Jerry Hadley Tribute

I was in the "kinder corps" of the Lake George Opera Festival in upstate New York from when I was 9 to 16. When I was thirteen, Jerry Hadley was in the chorus (!) of The Mikado. He would have been in his mid-twenties. That I remember him out of hundreds of talented singers is remarkable, especially since I always preferred baritones.

Jerry Hadley was a hard worker. Many of the other singers played with the children on rehearsal breaks (in that company they were usually either somewhere in college or enjoying their retirement) but he was studying the score. Not that he was unfriendly, far from it, he was affable, and polite and (this is the memory of a thirteen year old) very handsome.

I remember thinking that he'd make a great Fenton, because his voice was so light. And he was a good actor, so much so that I recall specific bits of stage business from his singing "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" at a benefit.

So I followed his career with vicarious pride. And his life seemed so ... solved. The greatest American tenor, he was frequently called, and his lovely wife was his accompanist. Looks, personality, talent, facility with languages. If his career took a downturn in his fifties, well, whose doesn't?? Even if you are not a singer.

I would have loved opera without him, but knowing Jerry Hadley was a happy part of my youth, and the fact that my toddler daughter often insists on hearing opera is in a small part his success.